This morning, Rep. Alan Grayson announced he’s running for Senate in Florida. Grayson, known as a “hip-shooting firebrand” liberal, did not waste any time attacking his opponent: fellow “Democrat” and establishment favorite, Patrick Murphy:
As many in Florida have noted, this isn’t great news for establishment Democrats looking to avoid a bloody and costly primary in a key battleground state:
Why? Because Grayson is a loose-cannon with an uncanny ability to raise money, according to Florida Democrats:
“Murphy’s people should be scared because the problem with Alan Grayson is he just doesn’t give a damn,” said Screven Watson, a longtime Democratic consultant based in Tallahassee.
“Grayson doesn’t do things the way normal candidates do them. His campaigns aren’t normal campaigns. He can raise so much money on the Internet that he’s only second to people like President Obama,” Watson said. “There have been liberal candidates who have run statewide before in Florida, but not like Alan Grayson.”
The intra-party fighting between Grayson’s and Murphy’s camps has been going on for months now. Almost immediately after he announced, Florida progressives labeled Murphy as insufficiently liberal. They also didn’t appreciate the DSCC hand-picking their candidates.
So now they have their man in Alan Grayson, for better or worse.